Lloyds pumps &#163;150m into Murray's firm

LLOYDS Banking Group has injected £150 million into Sir David Murray's Edinburgh-based business empire.

The refinancing shores up the group and trebles the bank's stake to 24 per cent.

Murray International Holdings (MIH), which has its registered office on Charlotte Square, will today publish accounts showing a loss of 175m for the 17-month period from January 2008 to July 2009, compared with a pre-tax profit of 20.6m the previous year.

Sir David will still own 76 per cent of MIH, and has weathered the financial storm better than predicted, with a personal wealth likely to be closer to 400m than the 110m quoted in a "rich list" last week.

The delayed accounts will show a writedown of 20 per cent in the group's 750m of property, prompting Lloyds to fill the 150m hole with its own money in a debt-for-equity swap.